SIGMA DP2 Merrill

The DP2 joins the burgeoning large sensor/compact digital camera ranks, mounting an APS – C size sensor with a 1.5x crop factor and 46 megapixel (mp) resolution. It’s those three layer pixels that are responsible for the hefty resolution advertised for this compact digital. The 3 inch LCD color monitor is becoming the benchmark size in this class, but elsewhere the DP2 strays from the typical compact digital recipe by featuring a fixed 30 mm/f 2.8 lens – zoom lens aficionados need not apply here. Applying that 1.5x crop factor, we come up with a focal length of approximately a 45mm lens in 35mm film equivalents – a focal length that nudges right up to the 50mm length that in film days was typically known as a “normal” lens because it provided a field of view approximately the same as that of the naked eye. If the fixed lens alone isn’t enough to differentiate the DP2 from most of the compact digital crowd, the absence of automatic and scene shooting modes certainly does. Your only shooting options are program auto, aperture priority, shutter priority or manual exposure. And video users take note: at a time when full HD video is proliferating in compact digital cameras, the DP2 offers a relatively pedestrian VGA (640 x 480) video capture option at 30 frames per second. Finally, the DP2 separates itself from the compact digital pack even further by eschewing stabilization that is found in virtually every new camera in the class these days.

Pros

Tremendous still image quality at and below ISO 400

Great color

Optically excellent lens

Cons

Narrow useable ISO range

Poor battery life

Cost

RAW support via only Sigma software currently

AF a bit slower than most current digital cameras

Quick Take

The Sigma DP2 Merrill will blow you away with excellent image quality from low ISOs, but this comes with a steep price tag and a few major shortcomings.